Monero Outperforms After Successful Hardfork

Monero went through a network upgrade this weekend to boost its privacy and security features. Investors appear to have welcomed the news, as XMR saw a 6.5% price increase over the past few hours.

Monero Enhances Privacy Features

Popular privacy coin Monero has surged nearly 6.5% after the network underwent a hardfork to introduce new security features over the weekend.

Monero went through a non-contentious network upgrade at block 2,688,888, which was executed on August 13. The hardfork increased the blockchain’s ring size from 11 to 16, creating a new signature to authorize transactions. It also included changes to the “Bulletproofs” algorithm, aiming to increase transaction speed, reduce wallet sync times, and change network fees.

“Multisig means that a transaction needs multiple signatures before it can be submitted to the Monero network and executed. Instead of one Monero wallet creating, signing, and submitting transactions all on its own, you will have a whole group of wallets and collaboration between them to transact,” the announcement reads.

XMR appears to have enjoyed a spike in bullish momentum following the recent hardfork. The privacy coin gained nearly 10 points in market value to hit a high of $174.5 for the first time since June. Although prices have briefly retraced, there is potential for further gains on the horizon.

From a technical perspective, Monero appears to have developed an ascending triangle on its four-hour chart. This consolidation pattern suggests that a sustained close above $172 could trigger a 19% breakout that sends XMR to $200. This bullish target derives from the height of the triangle’s Y-axis.

Still, XMR must continue to hold above $164 to have a good chance of validating the optimistic outlook. Failing to do so could trigger a spike in profit-taking that results in a steep correction. Monero could find support at around $150 if the bullish thesis is invalidated.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC and ETH.